Zinnia
by UnluckyAmulet
Summary: Sometimes, the greatest gift you can give a person is just to pay a little attention to them. May/Eddy.


Disclaimer: Do not own EEnE. Or anything else on Cartoon Network, for that matter.

There are NO Eddy x May stories in the category, at least not last time I looked, so here's my small contribution to some diversity to the Ed, Edd n' Eddy section. Mostly a friendship thing, but you can interpret it as more romantic if you like.

Enjoy!

* * *

The park had always been an unofficial domain of the Cul-de-sac kids. It was just how things were, really.

The Kanker Sisters could have claimed it, if they wanted to, but the junkyard had always proved a far more interesting (read: dangerous) playground for them, and fearsome though they were, the Cul-de-sac kids outnumbered them. Plus, as the park was situated just beyond Kevin's house, it seemed only natural that it was a particular favorite area when it came to entertainment value.

Which was why Eddy had not been expecting anyone else to be there when he arrived.

Blonde hair shifted as the lone Kanker turned to look at him. May's downcast expression morphed into one of surprise as she gazed at the boy, obviously just as surprised to see Eddy alone as he was to see her there, especially without her sisters.

Kanker and Ed stared at one another, like two animals who aren't quite sure if the newcomer is predator or prey.

Eddy, being the lovable coward we know, briefly flirted with the idea of running away, as he often did when confronted by a threat, but he found himself feeling slightly insulted by the idea- after all, it was only ONE Kanker. He was pretty sure he could take her on if she tried anything, although Eddy wasn't exactly the most honest person when it came to his own strengths and weaknesses.

...But strangely, May _didn't_ seem to be trying anything. She just sat there on the swing, fingers wrapped around the chains, red sneakers scuffing the dust.

"Well, y'gonna swing or aren'tcha?" May eventually asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"What?" Eddy blurted.

"Yer just standin' there." May said. "Yer makin' me nervous."

This was news to Eddy. _He _was making _her_ nervous?

"Where're your sisters?" Eddy demanded, deciding to cut to the chase, looking around as if he expected them to leap out from behind somewhere. Although really, such a thing wouldn't be that out of the question, not in this cul-de-sac.

May shrugged.

"Dunno." she said, gloomily, nibbling on her lower lip.

"Whaddaya mean, you don't know?"

"Sheesh, I dunno! I don't, like, keep tabs on 'em."

Eddy gave the blonde Kanker a searching look, but eventually decided she was telling the truth, and cautiously approached, perching on the other swing, body angled slightly forwards, as if prepared to take a flying leap from the swing should the need arise.

"So...how come you're here by yourself?" Eddy asked, partly because he was curious, but also because if May didn't know where her sisters were, they could be ANYWHERE.

May pouted a bit, looking forlorn.

"Just wanted t'get out."

Truthfully, May had run out of the trailer park. Lee and Marie...she was used to her sisters temperaments by now, of course, but just recently she had been bearing the brunt of their sarcastic barbs and caught in the middle of their titanic battles just a little too much. It had gotten to the stage where even meaningless conversations about lost objects or the time of day could dissolve into a fresh round of bickering and the tension was proving too much to handle. May peered at Eddy from beneath her blonde hair.

"How come you ain't with Double D and Big Ed?" she wanted to know.

It was Eddy's turn to pout.

"Sockhead got mad at me when our latest scam bombed and left, then Sarah comes outta nowhere and shouts to the world that Ed's grounded!"

He huffed, his little rant subsiding into bad-tempered muttering. May stared at him curiously.

"What scam?"

And so Eddy tells her about it (he did like to bask in his own ingenuity, if the opportunity presented itself). He threw in some exaggerations here and there, and Double D and Ed only made a cursory appearance, as if Eddy did the masterminding and heavy lifting by himself. (All the better, as they weren't there to take credit for it). May actually proved to be a great audience- she asked the occasional question, but not too many, and made appreciative sounds in the small gaps between speech. Most of the time, she was only ever witness to Eddy either being smug or terrified, so to watch how animated he became was a peculiar thing for her. It was only when Eddy reached the end of the story that the sparkle slowly dims in his eyes and his grin is replaced with a little scowl. His previously-waving arms still and go to grip the plastic-encased chains on the swing.

"So then, Kevin' Nazz'n the others go home, laughin' at us as usual...so then, I came here, I guess. I dunno."

The sting of his latest defeat made him surly and even more inarticulate than usual, but to his surprise (he seems to be getting a lot of those today), May actually looked somewhat sympathetic towards his defeat.

"That sucks, though!" May said, at last, her brow furrowing as she struggled to put things in any better wording. "I thought it was a good idea!"

Eddy noticed that when May smiled, her buckteeth were less prominent, somehow, and he is struck with a sudden stab of guilt about just how often he had made fun of them in the past (Albeit not to her face, at least.)

"Wonder why it didn't work?" May mused, her forehead creasing.

Eddy shrugged.

"Guess they know what to expect, by now."

Of course, the question of _why_ he insists on conning his peers out of their chump change, despite numerous failures lies, unasked, between them, but both Ed and Kanker are somehow aware of it, nonetheless. An awkward silence fell, and it suddenly occurred to Eddy how long he had been sitting here with May Kanker, in the park, and felt a sense of both surprise and unease. Surprise at how easy it had been to talk to her, given their past interactions, and unease, because who knew who could be watching?

May seemed to sense his unease.

"Jeez, I told ya, my sister's ain't here," she teased him, getting a little of her spark back. "Are ya really that scared of 'um?"

"_No._" Eddy replied defiantly, shooting May a miffed look. "I just don't feel like being jumped on and kissed over and over again right now."

May looked a bit guilty at that, possibly recalling all the times she, Lee and Marie had pounced on unsuspecting Eds and covered them in clumsily-lipsticked kisses. They had never really put much thought into how much the Eds detested the practice- to them, it was a fun game, something to distract them from constant fighting and the seemingly endless chores. Plus, with Big Ed's strength, Double D's brains and Eddy's certain brand of hotheaded, sneaky bouts of brilliance, the Kanker sisters had always assumed that if the Eds really hated it so much, then they would do something about it. If they could come up with scams seemingly on the fly, how hard could getting rid of love-struck girls be?

"Well, don't worry, I ain't gonna kiss you." She said, which was an odd thing to promise a wannabe-Casanova like Eddy, but he relaxed, if just a little.

"Well. Good." He said, awkwardly, wondering if he was too enthusiastic then May might misinterpret and start crying, or something. Not that he'd ever admit it, but Eddy was not too comfortable with dramatic displays of emotion, especially not from an unpredictable _girl._

"Yeah…" May said, the awkward atmosphere back, but she wasn't sure how to go about getting rid of it.

"So," Eddy said, slightly louder than strictly needed. "What'd you guys fight about this time, anyway?"

This turned out to be the magic words. May was off, ranting about _Lee was all…_ and _then Marie said…_ punctuated with wild arm movements. Eddy watched her flailing limbs with slight amusement, though he found he could actually identify a little with May; given his own sibling, he understood how it felt to be constantly belittled and made to feel stupid. He wouldn't share that with her- he never talked about that, not even to his close friends. All Double D and Ed knew about his brother were the lies, and Eddy intended to keep it that way. He couldn't stand the idea of them feeling sorry for him.

"Oh, sheesh!" May said, abruptly cutting off her story, as the words exchanged between herself and her siblings had turned into them throwing condiments at each other. "It's gettin' late!"

They may have been mean, but May knew that even Lee and Marie would worry about her if she didn't come back before it got dark, even if they'd express said worry with either noogies (Lee) or snarky remarks about how May was too dumb to remember how to get home. (Marie)

May turned to Eddy.

"I gotta go." She told him, redundantly, and Eddy nodded, trying to play it cool.

May smiled and, almost as an afterthought, leaned forwards and gave Eddy a brief hug. His expression remained rather stupefied as she ran to the gates of the park, her body tilted slightly back, like a diluted version of Ed's run.

"Bye, Eddy!" she shouted, cupping her hands over her mouth. "And, uh, thanks!"

Her blonde hair was bright in the sunset as May ran clumsily off in the direction of the trailer park, and Eddy watched her with a curious expression.

"Yer welcome." He muttered, even though she was too far away to hear.

And despite a day of ruined scams, absent best friends and confusing meetings, Eddy, hands in his pockets, walked home smiling.


End file.
